Starbucks Loses NLRB Mail-In Union Election Test Challenge (1)

Starbucks Corp. lost its legal challenge to the National Labor Relations Board’s standard to determine whether to order mail-ballot union elections because of Covid-19 pandemic conditions.

A three-member NLRB panel Monday rejected Starbucks’ argument to reconsider the multi-factor test from its 2020 decision in Aspirus Keweenaw. The company claimed that current pandemic conditions and access to vaccines made the test irrelevant.

Starbucks contested the NLRB’s pandemic vote-by-mail test as it continues to fight a location-by-location unionizing campaign across the country. Workers United has won 80% of the 266 elections held to date, according to NLRB statistics.

The coffee chain ...